Credit card trafficker cuffed after nine-month manhunt

A Russian accused of being one of the “most prolific” sellers of stolen credit-card data has been arrested in France, following a nine-month manhunt.

Vladislav Anatolievich Horohorin, 27, was taken into custody in Nice, France, as he was attempting to board a flight bound for Moscow, federal prosecutors in Washington said. He is being detained by French authorities pending extradition to the US.

A founder of CarderPlanet — a notorious clearinghouse for credit-card fraudsters — Horohorin belongs to one of the world's most sought-after online crime networks, authorities said. An indictment unsealed on Wednesday claimed he used the forum and others like it to sell huge “dumps” of stolen credit-card data to people around the world. Using the moniker “BadB,” he brazenly advertised the pilfered information. He directed purchasers to pay for it using a website he operated that automated payments using online currencies such as Webmoney.

A citizen of Israel and Ukraine, Horohorin's undoing began when a member of the US Secret Service using an undercover identity negotiated the sale of “numerous” stolen credit-card dumps, officials said.

If convicted, Horohorin faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine on a charge of access-device fraud. He also faces an additional two years and $250,000 in fines for a count of aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors' press release in the case is here. ®